Trends of Diabetes and Prediabetes Prevalence among Korean Adolescents From 2007 to 2018

BACKGROUND: To provide updated prevalence data and to estimate changes in the prevalence of diabetes among Korean adolescents by sex and age between 2007 and 2018. METHODS: We used the data of children and adolescents (8,718 subjects aged 10 to 18 years) from the Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey IV–VII (KNHANES 2007–2018). The recent prevalence of diabetes and pre-diabetes was estimated by using the latest KNHANES VII. The linear trends were estimated by comparing 3-year KNHANES cycles according to sex and by using logistic regression. RESULTS: The prevalence of diabetes and pre-diabetes was 0.298% (95% confidence interval [CI], 0.289–0.308) and 7.914% (95% CI, 0.43–0.49). The prevalence of diabetes significantly increased from 0.189 to 0.430 during KNHANE IV and VII. A positive linear trend is significant for diabetes (P trends = 0.006) in only male subjects. The prevalence of pre-diabetes significantly increased from 5.86 to 12.08 in both sexes. During KNHANES IV and VII, the prevalence of obesity increased significantly. CONCLUSION: Between 2007 and 2018, the prevalence of diabetes among Korean adolescents increased. Further studies are required to determine the causes of these increases.